Last Saturday, John Mearsheimer spoke to the Islamic Association of Greater Detroit. Mearsheimer tends to be pessimistic, but at the end of his speech he urged Muslims to work with enlightened Jews to put pressure on Israel and bring abut the two-state solution. Here's the key portion of his speech:
Obama’s only hope – and it is a slim one – is that a substantial part of the American Jewish community will come to understand Ehud Olmert’s warning that Israel will become like white-ruled South Africa if there is no two-state solution. More American Jews need to understand that Israel is in serious trouble and that the situation is likely to get worse, not better. They need to understand that the hour is late and that it is imperative to act quickly. They need to understand that Obama would be acting as Israel’s friend if he put pressure on both sides to reach a settlement. They need to understand that if there is no agreement and Israel is left to its own devices, it will face a grim future, and it will become very difficult for them to defend Israel. In short, more Jewish-Americans need to recognize that it is in their interest to champion the two-state solution.
If that does not happen, Obama will be unable to get tough with Netanyahu and there will be big trouble ahead for Israel, the United States, and especially the Palestinians.
At the risk of seeming presumptuous, let me conclude with a few words about what the American Muslim community might do to help support Obama. I would imagine that at least a few in the audience – and many in your wider community – favor the creation of a bi-national democracy in all of historic Palestine instead of the two-state solution. After all, that state would be run by Palestinians, not Jews.
The problem with a single democracy, however, is that Israel will not accept it – certainly in the foreseeable future. In fact, the prospect of moving toward that dreaded outcome might cause Israel to attempt to expel the Palestinians from their lands, as happened in 1948. Furthermore, advocating the creation of a bi-national democracy would alienate most American Jews who care about Israel, simply because it would mean the end of the Zionist dream.
A two-state solution is the only good outcome for the Palestinians at this point in time. And it is also the only good outcome for Israel. Thus, I think it would make good sense for the Muslim community to rally behind the two-state solution and work hard to form alliances with those individuals and organizations in the American Jewish community who back the idea of creating a Palestinian state living side-by-side with Israel. President Obama is going to need all the allies he can get to deal with Israel and the hardliners in the lobby. This is not a magic formula by any means, but it is the best hope we have of ending the Arab-Israeli conflict.
